Public Schools are Archaic

M. R. Ussery, EdD
Outskirts Press (2010)
ISBN 9781432758059
Reviewed by Christine Watson for Reader Views (08/10)

 

In “Public Schools are Archaic,” Dr. Ussery compares the glaring similarities of the current public school system with The Boston Latin School of 1635.  He comments that our modern system is obsolete because it follows a fixed path, not taking into account the abilities of each student.  He suggests that in today’s world, students don’t have much choice on what they learn, how they learn, in what order or with what resources they learn.  As an experienced teacher and administrator in public schools, I can attest to this idea.  Students need more freedom to discover their passions and truly educate themselves, and public schools are not offering that option.

One of the best parts of this book is Dr. Ussery’s call to action.  He says that “DOING” something is much more important than just theorizing and talking about it.  If we all heed this one piece of advice, public school can be transformed.  Dr. Ussery goes on to share many ideas about what we can “DO” to help the students.

One big change Dr. Ussery suggests is to design schools so that learning is the “constant” and time is the “variable” instead of the reverse which is the norm today.  Students are assigned to attend school for a certain period of time each day, each year, and learning is optional.  Another great idea he has is the implementation of Instructional Systems Development (ISD) which is the development of learning modules.  When students absorb these learning modules, he calls it Mastery Learning.  The Learning Center is the centralization of all resources necessary to study and learn.  These learning modules would be self-paced, and individualized, and are already successful when used in business and government agencies.

Dr. Ussery suggests that the goal of education is to develop or condition its students to becoming well-adjusted to the conditions imposed upon them by the society in which they function.  With this in mind, learning modules can be created to meet that goal and students can be successful.  Dr. Ussery has many good ideas in “Public Schools are Archaic” and it is worth reading.  It is also worth “DOING” something about the current state of public education.

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